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“I swear it was Friday like five minutes ago.” I’m sure its not just me, but this weekend seemed to FLY by. It was a great weekend – time flies when you’re having fun I guess.

So here is a quick review of our weekend.

Friday
Dinner: We decided to try a new restaurant for dinner so we went to Farm to Table Bistro in Fishkill: “We source most of our ingredients from local farmers and creameries and use as many local Hudson Valley purveyors as possible. The promise we make to our customers is to provide them with the freshest ingredients that are seasonably available and do so by purchasing locally whenever possible.” The food was great! We will definitely be going back there again. We ordered the Crispy Fried Calamari ‘A La Frankie’ at the waiter’s recommendation as an appetizer and it was delicious! I would go back just for that. The special for the night was a crabcake with crab salad which we both ordered. There was a little miscommunication between us and the waiter and we didn’t realize that was also an appetizer and not actually an entree – but regardless, it was also delicious! All the food was incredibly fresh and prepared really well. Like I said, we will definitely be going back (maybe ordering entrees next time, though :-)) BONUS: it was Hawaiian night on Friday so everyone got a lei when they walked in.

Saturday
Breakfast was ‘on-the-go’ so I made us some green smoothies – I use fresh baby spinach, coconut oil, coconut flakes (for flavor), plain yogurt (probiotics), milk and about 1/4 cup of frozen fruit (strawberry & mango), blended it all up in the Nutri-Ninja and we were ready to go.

Green Smoothie don’t let the color fool you!

We spent the day in the City and neither of us were hungry for lunch at all – I find the smoothies to be very filling – so we held out for dinner and went to this awesome place in the City, Bareburger. If you have never been there, you really have to go! They specialize in burgers but have other things as well. Everything is organic, the beef is grass-fed and they even have sprouted buns! Its a great atmosphere and overall just an awesome place. One of the few times I have ordered a burger in my life and I loved it – we will go back there any chance we get 🙂 I just learned that they also have other locations, as well – definitely check out their website and go if you can.

Bareburger… Best Burgers, ever.

SundayI know everyone is pretty much feeling the same way at this point but seriously, is spring EVER going to come?!? (I have my doubts)

We made a snowy trip to Adams for our weekly stock-up. Our grocery list this week was similar to last week, but I will post that again following this post for anyone who is interested.

Dinner: I made Parsley-Garlic Steak Bites from a recipe I found on Pinterest (because really, where else?). They were super easy and very tasty. This was a great alternative to grilling steak and the parsley-garlic marinade was light and summery (I’ll take it wherever I can get it at this point!). I think I would double this marinade next time and maybe freeze it to have on hand. I also think you could substitute basil for the parsley, or maybe do half basil, half parsley and make it more of a pesto. Either way, it was really easy and delicious. I followed the recipe exactly as it was on the blog and I did use Chuck steak instead of sirloin just because it is what I happened to have.

Parsley-Garlic Steak Bites ~ I sprinkled a little bit of cheddar cheese on top for a little extra bang!

Green is the theme of this weekend…

I made green beans to go with it:
I steamed about 1lb of organic green beans until they were tender. I put them in a covered dish and added about 2tbsp of raw butter and some roasted garlic pink salt (which I now literally put on everything) and voila! green beans to go with the steak.

Jordan absolutely loves seafood salad and Adams happened to have crab on sale yesterday so we picked some up and I made a quick and easy seafood/crab salad. I didn’t use a recipe, so here is what I did but it is by no means exact;

Add crab meat to a covered bowl
Chop celery, onion, and pickle and add to crab meat
Add seasonings. I used a little bit of dried dill weed and roasted garlic pink salt but really anything you like would work.
Add mayo and mix together. Let it chill for at least 30-45 minutes, the longer the better.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy March!
As always, comments and questions are welcome! 🙂

I am a creature of habit so I tend to go to the grocery store and buy the same things every week. This also means I tend to make the same recipes week after week. I have been making a concerted effort to try at least a couple new recipes each week which has forced me to buy some new or different things from the grocery store. You can compare last week to this week and see that the list is largely the same. I also had some things left over from last week, so I didn’t have to buy as much this week.

I found a recipe on Pinterest for homemade, fermented salsa. The recipe was really easy and I learned about the fermenting process, which is not at all what I thought it was. So I decided to give it a try. We eat a lot of salsa and other than a little bit of yogurt and some pickles or sauerkraut, we don’t eat a ton of fermented foods which are very important. So I made the salsa last night and it is currently sitting in jars on my kitchen counter. If you are curious, check out the recipe that I used. It was very easy but my concern is the need for a steady room temperature. The temperature in our apartment can fluctuate as much as 10 degrees a day, so hopefully that won’t be a problem!

If you have ever made fermented salsa, or anything else, let me know! I really want to try pickles and maybe red onions next if this goes well.

We went to the grocery store last weekend to prep for this week (which is now almost over!). There are a few great grocery store options in the Hudson Valley area: Adams Fairacre Farms, DeCicco’s and even Stop and Shop can be a good resource as they stock a lot of organic and all natural products.

Here is a list of the things that we bought this weekend:

Vegetables (all organic)

broccoli

spinach

red leaf lettuce

iceberg lettuce (makes great “wraps”!)

tomatoes

lemons

avocado

red/ yellow peppers

cucumbers

celery

Dairy

raw cheddar cheese

raw pepper jack cheese

free range eggs

feta cheese

raw butter

Poultry

all natural/free range whole chicken

all natural/free range split chicken breasts (bone-in, skin-on)

Other

Himalayan Pink Salt – (great source of minerals and tastes delish!)

organic dried banana chips

organic raisins

organic, all natural mayonnaise

chipotle “ketchup” (its an all-natural ketchup without the added sugar)

fresh salsa

fresh guacamole

We went to DeCicco’s in Brewster for all this stuff. I love going to DeCicco’s! They always have interesting things that you can’t find elsewhere and they are pretty reasonably priced, especially considering the quality.

I mentioned this in a previous post but here it is again: about 6+ months ago, we bought the meat from a whole cow, which we split with 3 other families. We got a variety of cuts of meat that totaled 1/4 cow – it is organic, grass-fed beef which we don’t have to include on our regular grocery list each week. The quality of the meat is outstanding and as someone who does not like beef, its very good! NorthStar Sports does have a selection of cuts of meat at a very reasonable price – if you want to try it or just don’t have room in your freezer for a couple hundred pounds of beef, they are happy to sell you some from their stock.

I hope this is helpful! As always, let me know if you have questions 🙂

Preheat oven to 425 F
In a mixing bowl, add ground beef and eggs. Mix until well combined. Add seasonings and onion.

Lay out a piece of plastic wrap on the counter. Press out the mixture on the plastic wrap into a rectangle making sure it’s even all the way across. Add cream cheese and spinach to the middle. It’s easier if you let the cream cheese come to room temperature before you spread it over the beef mixture.

Take one end of the plastic wrap and start to roll. It doesn’t have to be tight, it should just roll one full time.

Transfer to baking dish. Add stewed tomatoes to the top and pour about half the can of the tomato juice over the meatloaf.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, until the inside temperature reached 150 F.

We had steamed green beans with the meatloaf. For the green beans I used a steamer pot and once they were cooked, I put them in a bowl with some seasoning and butter.

I would highly recommend this meatloaf. It was tasty and filling. Thanks to WickedStuffed Blog for the recipe!

This was my favorite meal so far and there is room for creativity. The original recipe called for goat cheese and spinach stuffing but I don’t like goat cheese so I substituted cream cheese. I’m sure there would be other options too. I thought about using Ricotta cheese, too.

If you try this recipe, let me know! I’d love to hear how you liked it and what you did differently.

Bonus: tonight we used the Yonanas machine to add a little frozen fruit to yogurt. I used pineapple for mine and Jordan had mango in his. Delicious!!

Day 2 is done and so far we are both feeling good! Right around 4:00 this afternoon we both slowed down, both looking for some sugar but other than that today went well. So here is a breakdown of what we ate for day 2:

Breakfast: baked omelet & coffee. I made this yesterday and we both took a piece for breakfast. I ate mine with a little creme fraiche (sweeter version of sour cream) and Jordan ate his plain. It was delicious! I also had my usual coffee BUT this morning I added coconut oil to it. Sounds weird but it was surprisingly very good! I happen to love the flavor of coconut so it was great. I still added a little cream but no sugar. I think I can handle that!

Lunch: salads. I made one big salad on Sunday, just to make morning prep easier because I am not a morning person by any means. The salad has lettuce, cucumber and red pepper and this morning I added an avocado and some feta cheese. This is where you can get creative though. Any good, pastured cheese, meat (think leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, etc.) I made dressing from Coconut Vinegar (apple cider vinegar substitute), olive oil, and Italian seasoning. This is a usual for me, so I enjoyed it!

Dinner: crockpot beef and sweet potato stew. This recipe was really easy and anything in the crockpot is a win, especially on NSS workout nights! I made some roasted broccoli and of course, pickles for digestion!

Turn the crockpot on high and melt butter (about 3 tbsp)
Add the onions and let simmer while you cut the rest of the vegetables and meat.
Add sweet potatoes, carrots and meat. Pour in broth until the crockpot is about 1/4 full, or so.
Cook on high for 4-6 hours or longer if needed, until the sweet potatoes are cooked (soft) and meat is tender.

For a thicker stew-like sauce, coat the meat in coconut flour and brown in a sauté pan before adding to the crockpot.

**UPDATE: This is the recipe that I used for the roasted broccoli – I make this all the time. Its super easy and tastes amazing! I usually leave out the lemon juice and I don’t always use the Parmesan cheese, it really doesn’t need it but a little parm never hurt anyone! 🙂

So today was day one of the Ketogenic Diet (I don’t like calling it a diet because it really is a lifestyle, not a diet)

Jordan went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up some of the things that we needed for the week. He went with Jerry who has been doing this for over a year now and they went to Adams Fairacre Farms. Some of the things that he got:Produce (all organic): broccoli, spinach, asparagus, cauliflower, cucumbers, red peppersStaples: raw/organic coconut oil, fermented pickles (see picture), fermented sauerkraut, pastured butter, free-range eggs, pastured cheddar cheese (pastured is different and not to be confused with pasteurized)

So for dinner tonight, I made baked chicken with spinach. I cut boneless/skinless chicken breasts in half and put them in a casserole dish. I melted the pastured butter in a sauté pan and added a medium white onion. I cooked the onion until it was soft and added 2 cloves of garlic and the spinach. Once the spinach was wilted, I added a little bit of organic chicken stock and poured the whole mixture over the chicken breasts and baked it for about 30 minutes at 350.

Overall, it was pretty good. It wasn’t overly flavorful which was surprising to me but I will add some seasoning to it next time to “kick it up a notch” maybe. Some red pepper flakes and maybe a can of diced tomatoes would be good.

Day 1 – Dinner Chicken, Spinach, Onions, Garlic

Fermented Pickles – Taste DELICIOUS the probiotics help you absorb nutrients so you get the most of your meal (but I don’t need an excuse to eat pickles:-))

Jordan’s first weigh in stay tuned for updates!

Tonight I made breakfast for us for the next couple of days. I have done this before but this time I used all fresh/organic ingredients. This baked omelet is made with a dozen farm-fresh, free range eggs, a little bit of milk, organic spinach and some roasted red peppers. We can both take a piece for a quick and easy breakfast “on the go.” Sidenote: the color of this omelet is amazing! the free range, farm fresh eggs make a huge difference! and I use coconut oil to coat the pan so it doesn’t stick (I hope!)

1.Cut the chicken in half (butterflied)
2. Melt butter in saute pan with minced garlic and chopped onion until the onion is soft/translucent
3. Add spinach and wilt just until it is soft, not fully wilted.4. Mix in chicken stock
5. Pour mixture over chicken
6. Bake at 350 for about 25-35 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked (no longer pink and juices run clear)
We ate it with a side of pickles which is highly recommended for digestion but it can be served with any other vegetable you like – be creative!

So overall day one was a breeze! Tomorrow’s menu is a spin on a comfort food classic and I am excited to try it!

If you have suggestions or questions, please let me know! I would also love to know if you are living the ketogenic lifestyle and what your thoughts and recommendations are.